Preventing Injuries

Sports injuries are becoming more common among high school athletes, according to Dr. Wesley Kluck, an Arkadelphia physician and vice president of student services at Ouachita Baptist University.

By James Leigh, GateHouse Arkansas

Sports injuries are becoming more common among high school athletes, according to Dr. Wesley Kluck, an Arkadelphia physician and vice president of student services at Ouachita Baptist University.

"Injuries that used to not occur as often in high school are becoming more prevalent because of more training, weightlifting, more volume of mass hitting each other," he began. "The sports that have the most common injuries in high school would be football and cheerleading."

While these are not the only sports where athletes are injured, these two tend to have a higher rate of serious injury.

Kluck broke down the most common injuries among sports.

Concussions are common in cheerleading, soccer, football and occasionally in baseball and softball.

Knee injuries are more common in football and soccer.

Wrestlers are most likely to suffer skin infections due to the close contact with other wrestlers.

Shoulder and elbow injuries are common in tennis, baseball, softball, volleyball and swimming.

Long distance runners often suffer stress fractures from overuse.

There are ways for many of these injuries to be prevented, however.

Athletes are starting to use knee braces to cut down on injuries. "This helps to reduce injuries because it limits the way the knee moves," Dr. Kluck said.

The introduction of athletic trainers into high school sports programs also helps.

"It relieves the coach of some of the pressure of making sure these kids are not getting hurt," Kluck said. "The benefits of athletic trainers are becoming more clear cut."

Younger athletes are also suffering more injuries, as well.

"I see a lot of Little League injuries from kids who throw too much," Kluck said. "Part of that is due to parental influence. They tend to push the athlete further than the body can go. We also need to better educate volunteer coaches in injury prevention."

Concussions are also becoming more recognized among high school coaches.

"Three out of every 100 athletes get concussions," noted Dr. Terry DeWitt, a certified athletic trainer for over 20 years.

While stricter regulations on sports have helped to cut down on concussions, allowing athletes to take the field too soon can increase the risk of more injuries.

"Now we have some way to measure if there are still symptoms," DeWitt said. "ImPACT testing is a great tool for physicians. The physician will still make the return to play decision, but now the physician can make a more informed decision [due to the ImPACT test]."

High school athletics is an ever-changing field.

"I've seen multiple changes in the whole process in my 27 years as team physician [at OBU]," Kluck said. "It is really changing quickly."